I've written about Brazil pre-Lula and post-Lula and spent the last five years covering all aspects of the country for Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal and Barron's. Meanwhile, for an undetermined amount of time, and with a little help from my friends, I will be parachuting primarily into Brazil, Russia, India and China. But will also be on the look out for interesting business stories and investing ideas throughout the emerging markets.

China Tries Silencing 'End Timers'

According to a religious doomsday cult in China, mankind is approaching its final hour.

But China being China, those guys in Beijing who rule the place are having none of it. They’ve circled the wagons around the Almighty God end timer cult, viewing them as a hazard to public safety as the clock strikes twelve, at least for them.

Over 600 members of the end times cult have been detained for spreading rumors of an impending apocalypse on December 21, the day the Mayan calendar is believed to reset for a new cycle. Some believe that reset means the end of the world.

The cult was created in 1990 in central China’s Henan Province. It has promised salvation to those who join before “doomsday.”

Most of the cult members apprehended by police were detained for 5 to 10 days for disturbing social order. Four “Almighty God” cult members were detained in Inner Mongolia for swindling elderly people for money. The “Almighty God” cult has taken advantage of people’s fears and superstitions to sell them fallacies, Wu Boxin, a criminal psychology expert with the People’s Public Security University of China, said in China Daily on Wednesday .

The cult intimidates those who try to break away. “If you divorce from the sect, you will be killed by lightning, the sect would warn,” said Wu, who has taken part in the investigations of a series of “Almighty God”-related cases.

The “Almighty God” cult will not disappear after the so-called apocalypse on December 21, as their guiding principle is to battle the “Great Red Dragon,” a euphemism for the Communist Party of China, and set up a country run by the “Almighty God,” Wu told the paper.

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